I know its been a lot of work mate but i would love to have the variety of terrain that you have. I think you have done well so far and your area has a lot of potentiial.
Rgds ian
Jack i am pretty interested in civil engineering problems if there is anything i can help you with please don't hesitate to send me a few photos by email.
Ray, For the most part the train lot drains pretty well. Along with the clay is a good amount of sand. A few spots are "one day from stone" and do not drain at all. The largest problem is the thirty-one inch drop in grade. Heavy rains produce swift run-off with wash outs. As the occur, I try to prevent future incidents with stone walls and back fill to slow down the water. That and planting of ground cover should keep it to a managible level. Jack
Not an inch of track layed in the last two weeks. I couldn't stand the weeds and pasture grass any longer. I have been weeding and mulching, and still not close to being finished. After mulching I apply Preem in hopes of keeping the weeds under control. The mulch should eliminate a lot of mud and help slow down the runoff till I get some ground gover going. Here are some pictures of unweeded and weeded sections of the train lot. While I was at it I planted some Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Boxwood, English Privet, Japanese Dwarf Holly and Japanese Soft Touch Holly. Also took some time and installed metal edging aroung the entire train lot (292 ft).
I have really enjoyed your comentary on your project. It is absolutely huge! I would like to use the same type of cribbing that you employed for my railroad. What are the dimensions, and are you happy with the scale? It looks great, but I can't quite get the size from the pictures. If you mentioned the dimensions already, sorry for the question. I am just to lazy to go back and dig it up.:)
Zak
Keep On Railroad'n..............
Zack, Thank you. I cut 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch x seven inches strips from 1 x 6 ceader siding boards picked up at Lowes. If I remember there is about 750 of them. To connect them I used 3/8 inch steel rods. After making a jig for the drill press to drill the holes the exact distance in each post. Each post was started enough to hold it in place until all the strips were in place, then driven all the way in. As much post is burried as is above ground. Highest point is 14 inches so the post is 28 inches long. About every 5 foot or so I attached a piece of wire straping and secured it with a 8 inch garden spike to hold it in place. Given enough room, or a willingness to dig out enough dirt you could actually build in dead men to accomplish this. My dirt is just two days from stone so I chose not to dig any more. Since I am 12.3 scale It works out to approx 10 inches x 10 inches x 14 feet and looks pretty decent to me, but I am not a "rivit counter".
Cool....thanks for the reply. I will let you know how it goes at the lazy 8.
Jack - I have been reading your railroad construction chronology and must commend you for your energy and perseverence. The layout looks terrific to me too. One aspect has me very intrigued. The "big dig" area looked to me as if you created a large depression within the layout area. What keeps that from filling up and becoming a pond when it rains?
-GB
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